The Life And Times Of
by Frozen Obsidian
Summary: Ten truths about the Demigods of Greece and Rome. First up - Perseus Jackson: Because he was as untameable as the sea.


**The Life and Times of:  
Percy Jackson**

**1. He almost dies five times before he turns twelve.**

The first time is when he's eighteen months old. As he lay sleeping in his cradle, a woman strode into the room like she owned the place. Her face is distorted, ugly, and her eyes are empty sockets.

She stands over the sleeping baby and leaned down to pick him up, cradling the child closely to her chest. She strokes his cheeks slowly, almost lovingly.

She was Lamia, the devourer of children, and Percy was going to be her finest meal in a long, long time. Her mouth opens to reveal rows of bloodstained teeth. She licks her lips lightly.

Then, there was a flash, a stinging pain as she felt like she was drowning on dry land… and she disintegrated into golden dust. The baby is carefully placed back into his cot.

Poseidon runs his hand through his young son's hair and tries to shake off the terror of that long terrible moment. It was alright - Sally's child would live another day.

-0-0-0-

The second time is at the age of three, when twin snakes slither into his blankets at preschool. The long fangs of the serpents glitter with poison.

He wakes up and looks at the strange wriggling things in wonder. He reaches out with two chubby fists and grips onto their necks. The rain is blowing in lightly from the half open window, splashing his face. He laughs and tosses the two reptiles into the air. The teacher comes half an hour later and _screams_.

He isn't blamed for it, after all, what could a three year old have done?

(It's pretty much the only time he isn't expelled for something that isn't his fault.)

-0-0-0-

In third grade, a creepy man with one eye tries to take him away. He is resistant, of course, but he is feeling kind of shaky.

The man's voice was compelling, like rich honey and it feels vaguely familiar. When he tries to leave though, the man grabs onto his arm and refuses to let go.

Percy screams at the top of his voice and the teachers come running. They haul him away from the strange man and quickly hustle him into the school.

They purse their lips and refuse to believe him when he spoke of the single, unblinking brown eye in the middle of the man's scarred face. He's scolded and told to tell the truth.

He sits down and wonders if he's going crazy.

-0-0-0-

The fourth time is surprisingly unrelated to being a demigod. It was simply about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He had been on the way home from school, walking uncaringly through the relatively quiet streets of down town New York. The area he lived in with his mom was pretty derelict, but safe enough.

Usually.

That day, a group of teenagers who were so high on drugs they couldn't even remember their names, decided that mugging a ten year old kid would be a great idea.

Miraculously, all of them slip over a huge puddle of water and slide right into a metal fire escape. By the time they recover, the boy is out of sight and in his apartment.

They write it off as one of those freaky things about nature and forget all about it by the time the high wears off.

(Poseidon doesn't.)

-0-0-0-

The last time is right before he goes to Yancy Academy. He was out with his mom, shopping for stuff to bring to his stupid new boarding school.

Still, even if it _was_ shopping, it was great because he was here _without_ Smelly Gabe and had his mom right next to him.

He doesn't notice anything odd when his mom abruptly turns a corner and pulls him into a clothing aisle. He just figures that his mom saw some blouse she really wanted and leans back against the wall impatiently.

Sally Jackson breathes a sigh of relief when she notices the Fury leave the store without ever catching sight of her precious son.

Smelly Gabe did have his uses after all.

-0-0-0-

Then, less than a year later, he meets Grover and Annabeth and everyone else, and almost dying becomes more common than blue Cherry Coke in the Jackson household.

**2. In another life, things would have been very different.**

If Thalia hadn't been turned into a tree, Luke would never have joined the Titans, Annabeth would never have met Percy, and Thalia would be the child of Prophecy. Percy would have gone to Camp Half-Blood after the war, and he would have lived a largely uneventful life – for a demigod that is. Rachel Elizabeth Dare doesn't become the mortal host for the Oracle and the two of them end up married when they're twenty-three.

If Annabeth had joined Luke's side during the war, Percy would have done one of two things: he would have stayed on Calypso's island or he would have grown cynical and bitter, disappearing after Kronos is slain, once the bodies of Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan have been burned in identical shrouds.

If Grover hadn't gone to Yancy Academy, Percy would have still managed to defeat Mrs Dodds the psycho maths teacher with a bizarre plan involving a ping-pong ball, two fan blades and a priceless statue of Dionysus.

If Percy hadn't gone on the quest to save Annabeth, she would have joined the Hunters together with Thalia. Percy wouldn't have been there to stop her from volunteering.

If Percy had been born a child of Zeus, he would have been the host of Kronos.

So when you think about it, it really is lucky that things ended up as they did.

**3. He still wonders about Calypso sometimes.**

While he had been with Annabeth for far longer, he definitely didn't realize that he was in _love_ with the blonde until quite a bit later.

(Of course, that kiss on Mount St Helens sped things up a bit, but it was kind of right before he blew up a mountain, so it took him a while to remember.)

Calypso, however, was the first girl he imagined a future with.

She was beautiful, and gentle, and had a strange little dimple on her right cheek that was really cute.

She was peaceful, and serene, and she offered a perfect life away from every worry that Percy had ever had.

Her story was sad, and her eyes were so lonely, and Percy never could stand seeing someone he loved miserable. He was so close to saying yes when she offered.

But in the end, she wasn't blonde, and she wasn't difficult, and she wasn't Annabeth. Even then, he had felt that somewhere deep inside.

So he left, because there were people waiting for him and there was always, always a world to save.

But still, when he sees the soft silver flowers outside his window, he can't help but wonder.

**4. He is proud.**

For all that is said about his fatal flaw being personal loyalty, it really is just another form of hubris.

Percy can't let anyone he loves go. He has to be the one to save them, and he has to be by their side.

No matter what.

He can't let go and believe that sometimes he just isn't needed. He can't accept it.

He can't let people walk their own destinies, not if it leads them away from him and most especially if it leads them into danger.

Maybe it stems from watching his mother suffer for years to protect him. Maybe it's because he thinks he's responsible for every person in the world, since he is the prophecy child after all.

Either way around, Percy is proud, because he thinks that nobody can save themselves, and he has to be there for them.

Personal loyalty and hubris; he and Annabeth really were a pair, weren't they?

(-_falling into Tartarus)_

**5. Rachel Elizabeth Dare is a possibility he can never forget.**

Someone who was mortal, who was normal, who could go to school and not worry about a monster attack… well, that was something every demigod contemplated.

While Rachel didn't exactly fit the bill, (she was after all, not exactly standard and had to worry about the strange creatures populating the area), she was still the closest thing Percy had ever had to normalcy.

Also, she was gutsy and brave, and in a paint-splattered kind of way, sort of beautiful. She was snarky, and she was so curled in on herself she was like a bomb ticking away, ready to explode.

He might have loved her. He does care for her, that much is sure, but was he in love with Rachel Elizabeth Dare? He really isn't sure.

Any way about it, that possibility is gone now. He has Annabeth (and there are no complaints there) and Rachel is the Oracle of Delphi.

Maybe what he really loved about her was the chance for a normal life.

Still, she was one of the most important people in his life, and he'd protect her til his dying day, if need be.

She was his second love, after all.

**6. Letting his mother go was both the easiest and hardest decision of his life.**

Paul Blofis was a great guy; Percy had known that even before Paul had asked him permission to marry his mother.

He was a goof, but he did really care for his mom, and that was really all Percy had ever wanted for her – for her to be happy.

Not to mention Paul didn't try to step in and take over his life, like some overbearing step father. He wasn't in your face or too detached. It might have come with being a teacher, or maybe that's just how Paul is.

And Paul treated him like a man, not a boy, or a kid, or someone he didn't think could think for themselves – by asking his permission, Percy could have no reason to not say yes.

And it was easy, to give the okay for his mom to be loved.

Still, it haunts him because it means that he really _is_ sure that Poseidon won't come back for his mom, no matter how much he wants it.

And there was that niggling feeling that he was going to become second place in her affections, once she was remarried (and with proper mortal children to care for too).

It was stupid of him, really, but he can't help it. His mom was everything to him, and well, easy or hard, saying yes to Paul was the only thing he could have done.

He doesn't regret it.

**7. He was made to be a big brother.**

When Percy turns eighteen, Sally sits him down and gently tells him that he's going to have a little sister.

Percy blinks at her stupidly for a full minute and she eyes him worriedly.

Then he splits into a goofy grin and says it's the best news he's heard all year (the world being saved from Gaia included).

He means it.

-0-0-0-

When Zoe Blofis is born, Percy doesn't return to camp that year; he's too busy being overprotective of his baby sister.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and drives down to join him.

She can't help but pity young Zoe's future boyfriends.

**8. He would give anything for Annabeth.**

She is his everything, rolled into one scarily intelligent, irrepressible and smirking blonde daughter of Athena.

They've been through two potential apocalypses together – there can't be anything worse right?

(Well, except for when they're on opposite teams for Capture the Flag, but that is neither here nor there.)

So choosing to fall into Tartarus with her was the most stupid and the smartest thing he could have ever done. Because she was his other half, and he wasn't going to let her go it alone.

Never.

(And six years down the line, he's got a baby boy to add onto that list – people who he would go to Tartarus and back for. He has, too.)

**9. Given the choice, he would never have been the leader.**

He doesn't like it, the thought of people obeying what he says. He isn't particularly smart or brave. He doesn't deserve it and he doesn't want the responsibility,

He's just a demigod who happened to born to one of the Big Three.

Still, if that's what it takes to get everyone through this war alive, it's what he will do.

(_- and the faces of Beckendorf and Silena and all the others that died alongside him will haunt him -)_

He was made to be the protector, and along the way he became their leader. He still doesn't want it though.

-0-0-0-

They follow him because there is no one else they would trust half as much as they do him.

Percy Jackson might not want it, but he was a born leader.

Even if he _was_ kind of dense and severely lacking in tact sometimes. After all, the unofficial motto of Camp Half-Blood _is_ 'it's only stupid if it doesn't work'.

(Chiron does not approve.)

**10. He is the sea.**

He is wild and untamed. He doesn't do well with rules or orders, which may be why he ended up as the leader. Sure, he can buckle down sometimes and get to work, but in the end, he needs the freedom to of the sea to be all he really is.

He is changeable and moody. Annabeth swears that he has more mood swings than she does on PMS. Yet he forgives so easily too, washing away the hurt with the tide of his anger (except for Luke, and even then…).

He is powerful. With or without the curse of Achilles, with or without Riptide in his hands, watching him control the waters of the earth is a sight that is both awesome and shit-your-pants terrifying.

He is, after all, the child of the sea, and the sea is something that cannot be defined.

-0-0-0-

_I really like doing these 'ten truths' things. Now to try it in the PJO fandom..._

_First up was, of course, Percy since he is a) the main character, b) my favourite character and c) really freaking awesome._

_Lamia is a greek monster that was cursed by Hera to devour her own children and everyone else's. Some myths have her as half-serpent, but I decided to go with the original descriptions of her._

_I hope I did Percy justice._

_Next up: Annabeth Chase_

_~FO_


End file.
